SORMANI (1817-1866), WORLD EXHIBITION, LONDON 1862, WRITING BOX, LOUIS XVI STYLE, SECOND HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY Rectangular, tiered form; veneered with rosewood, amaranth, rosewood, Rio rosewood, lemon, sycamore and sycamore stained green and tobacco. It is inlaid in reserves, with a diamond-shaped background, with filleted frames and friezes of foliage and is edged with gilded bronze with pearled reserve fillets and rais-de-cœurs. It opens on flaps. Signed on the lock Sormani, rue du Temple, Paris, Universal Exhibition, London, 1862. (Missing the key, some small accidents and missing parts) A LOUIS XVI STYLE WRITING CASE BY SORMANI, LONDON INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1862, SECOND HALF OF 19TH CENTURY 25 x 44 x 35 CM - 9,8 x 17,3 x 13,8 IN. Paul Sormani (1817-1877) was one of the most important Parisian cabinet-makers of the second half of the 19th century. He began his business at 7, cimetière Saint-Nicolas, before moving to 114, rue du Temple in 1847. Sormani first exhibited his work at the Paris Exhibition of 1849, where he was awarded a bronze medal, and then at the International Exhibition of 1855, where he was awarded a first-class medal. He travelled to London in 1862, where he won another award and a special mention for his small bronze fantasy furniture and decorative objects at the 1867 Paris exhibition. In 1867, when he opened at 10 rue Charlot, he was at the height of his success. He gradually moved away from small-scale works (kits and fantasy furniture) to create furniture in the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles. Although he received several medals at the various Universal Exhibitions he took part in (1849, 1855, 1862), it was at the 1867 Exhibition that his work was described in the following terms: "his entire production reveals a quality of execution of the highest order".